Antebellum: Increasing Sectional Divisions 1787-1860
Transcript of Antebellum: Increasing Sectional Divisions 1787-1860
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The decades leading to the United States Civil War – the Antebellum era – reflect
issues of slavery, party politics, expansionism, sectionalism, economics and
modernization.
“Antebellum” – the phrase used in reference to the period of increasing
sectionalism which preceded the American Civil War.
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The primary affect was to creation of the Northwest Territory as the first
organized territory of the United States; it established the precedent by which the
United States would expand westward across North America by admitting new
states, rather than by the expansion of existing states.
The banning of slavery in the territory had the effect of establishing the Ohio
River as the boundary between free and slave territory in the region between
the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.
From this point forward, the issue of slave\non-slave representation in
Congress became a delicate balancing act.
It is illegal to import slaves into the United States after 1808
This was due to a compromise when writing the Declaration of Independence,
something supported at the time (when the future of slavery did not seem
profitable) but not when 1808 came about.
1816 American Colonization Society is formed to transport freed slaves to
Liberia, in Africa. About 12,000 are sent.
The society is led by James Monroe, Henry Clay and other slave owners
The society was supported by Southerners fearful of organized revolt by free
blacks, by Northerners concerned that an influx of black workers would hurt
the economic opportunities of whites, by some who opposed slavery but did
not favor integration, and by many blacks who saw a return to Africa as the
best solution to their troubles.
April 1820, in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, Jefferson wrote
“...but this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled
me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed
indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A
geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once
conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and
every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.”
Missouri Compromise of 1820
Missouri joins the union as a slave state, Maine as a free state. The balance of
power between free and slave in the Senate is maintained.
The compromise prohibited slavery North of the 36th--30th parallel, with the
exception of the proposed state of Missouri.
Southerners were happy to have a new slave state in which to expand; the
Northerners felt they had placed a limit on slavery, with the Gulf of Mexico to
the South, the nation of Mexico to the west and the 36th--30th parallel to the
north, there is a sense that territory hospitable to slavery is contained.
This was the first instance of Congressional exclusion of slavery from pubic
territory acquired since the adoption of the Constitution!
1822, the Denmark Vesey plot amplifies Southern white fears about the
possibility of slave uprisings. The arrest of over 130 black men in the conspiracy
likely avoided an uprising which would have involved thousands of slaves.
Nullification Crisis of 1828
A sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by the
Ordinance of Nullification, an attempt by the state of South Carolina to nullify a
federal law passed by the United States congress.
South Carolina takes efforts to declare an act of Congress as not affecting
them, a position they step away from once Federal troops are authorized in
1832 to take on South Carolina.
The event illuminates federalist/anti-federalist perspectives and tariff issues.
1829, David Walker (born as a free black in North Carolina) publishes
‘Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World’ calling on slaves to revolt.
1831, William Lloyd Garrison publishes ‘The Liberator’
The abolitionist movement takes on a radical and religious element as
it demands immediate emancipation.
Antebellum: Increasing Sectional Divisions
1787-1860 (A Chronology, page 1 of 2)
1831, Nat Turner’s Rebellion (slave uprising)
Fear of a repeat of the rebellion polarized moderates and slave owners
throughout the south, and repressive policies again blacks intensify.
Socially, the uprising discouraged Southern white’s questioning the
slave system, fearing that such discussion might encourage similar
slave revolts. This silence serves to reinforce the establishment.
With the ending of the slave trade, the invention of the cotton gin, and
opening up of new territories in the Deep South, suddenly there was a
growing market for the trading of slaves. Over the next decades, more than
a million slaves would be transported to the Deep South in a forced
migration as a result of the domestic slave trade.
Responding to new Christian sensibilities, the rising importance of slave
labor in the Southern cotton economy, the Nat Turner uprising, and the rise
of abolitionism, Southern defenders of slavery start seeing it not as a
"necessary evil," but instead as a "positive good."
American Anti-Slavery Society founded in 1833 in the North
1834 Anti-slavery debates, held over nine days at Lane Theological
Seminary, revitalize the abolitionist movement while discouraging the
eighteen year old practice of resettlement in Africa.
1836 ‘Pinckney Resolution‘ In response to petition campaigns, the
House of Representatives adopts a gag rule, by which all anti-slavery
petitions presented to the House would be immediately tabled without
discussion. (Pro-slavery petitions may still be heard and acted upon)
John Quincy Adams leads an 8 year struggle against this, arguing that
Slaveocracy, as a political interest, threatens constitutional rights.
Arkansas (slave state) joins Union in 1836 and Michigan (free state) in
1837. This retains a balance between free/slave states in the Senate.
1837, Newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy murdered
Run out of town for criticizing a judge who refused to punish a mob
who lynched a black man.
His printing press was destroyed three times by pro-slave groups who
wanted him to stop printing abolitionist views.
Shot while defending his fourth printing press from an angry mob
intent on destroying it.
Lovejoy is viewed as a martyr for abolitionists across the country.
Amistad incident, 1839
Africans illegally enslaved in Africa before rebelling aboard La Amistad.
Apprehended in the United States, a series of legal struggles ensue as
numerous competing groups lay claims of ownership upon them.
This leads to the Supreme Court in 1841, which rules that they can
not be considered property since the onboard insurrection was an
effort to preserve their liberty. Abolitionists applaud the ruling!
Pro-slave advocates are furious, and they being to reach out to like-
minded (who disliked decision) foreign countries, such as Spain.
The concept of Popular Sovereignty allowed settlers into those
territories to determine (by vote) if they would allow slavery within
their boundaries.
Advocated by Senator Stephen Douglas from Illinois.
The philosophy underpinning it dates to the English social
contract school of thought (mid-1600s to mid-1700s), represented
by Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
1845, Frederick Douglass published his autobiography
The publishing of his life history empowers all abolitionists to
challenge the assertions of their pro-slave counterparts, in topics
ranging from the ability of slaves to learn to questions of morality
and humanity.
Northerners feel emboldened by being able to point to such a
successful and educated man as the potential for all slaves.
Southerners take exception to how the Northerners are celebrating
a runaway slave and protecting him.
1845 Annexation of Texas / Mexican-American War 1846-1848
The incorporation of land from Texas into the United States.
Denounced by anti-slavery forces as an “evil expansion of slave
territory” and a pretext to gaining more slave territory.
Proposal to pass an extension of the Missouri Compromise line
fails, reaffirming northern fears.
1846 James DeBow established ‘DeBow’s Review’ magazine, a
leading southern magazine
It warns again relying upon the North economically. He blames
the South’s underdevelopment – relating how manufacturing,
shipping, banking and international trade is concentrated in the
North – on efforts by the North to make the South dependant.
The magazine becomes a leading voice for succession, and
advocates for the reestablishment of the African slave trade.
1848 Wilmot Proviso
The intent of the proviso, submitted by Representative David Wilmot,
was to prevent the introduction of slavery in any territory acquired
from Mexico following the ongoing Mexican-American War.
The proviso is never approved, but the numerous efforts to gain
ratification threaten southerners.
Slaves were viewed as property in Connecticut until 1848.
1849 General Zachary Taylor is elected president after keeping his
views on slavery secret during campaigning.
After the election, he urges settlers in California and New Mexico
to bypass the territorial stage (wherein the south would have time
to influence the deliberations in favor of slavery) and instead draft
constitutions for statehood
This would exclude any possibility of the creation of new
territories subject to slavery throughout the southwest.
Taylor warns the South that rebellion will be met with force.
The south is embittered and furious. They felt betrayed: Taylor
owned slaves, so they assumed he would support their cause.
1849 California gold rush suddenly populates northern California
with Northern and immigrant settlers, outnumbering Southerners.
The prospect of slavery is unanimously rejected at the state’s
constitutional convention.
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
Required all United States citizens to assist in the return of runaway
slaves regardless of the legality of slavery in their specific states.
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Compromise of 1850
A series of bills aimed at resolving the territorial and slavery controversies
arising from the outcome of the Mexican-American War.
There were five laws which were intended to balance the interests of the
North and South: 1. California was admitted as a free state; 2. Texas
received financial compensation for relinquishing claims to land west of the
Rio Grande (New Mexico); 3. The territory of New Mexico (Arizona and
southern Nevada) was organized without any specific prohibition of slavery;
4. The slave trade (but not slavery itself) was terminated in the nations’
capital Washington DC, and; 5.the Fugitive Slave Law was stiffened.
The Compromise endorsed the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty.
Compromise was designed by Senator Henry Clay, shepherded to passage
by Senators Stephen Douglas and Daniel Webster, additionally supported by
President Millard Fillmore, and opposed by Senator John Calhoun and (just
deceased) President Zachary Taylor.
The Georgia Platform, 1850
Southern Unionists declare the Compromise of 1850 to be the final addressing
of southern slavery, while declaring that no further assaults on Southern rights
by the North would be acceptable.
In the short term this seemed to be an antidote to secessionist talk, but in the
long run it actually contributed to sectional solidarity
1851 Several southern states consider secessionist measures; all defeated
1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’
The novel stiffens northern resistance to the Fugitive Slave Laws.
The novel infuriated the south! It is widely criticized by slavery supporters
in the South, labeling it as “false, criminal and slanderous.”
The novel inspired ‘Anti-Tom Literature’, writing which took a pro-slavery
viewpoint.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
Created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opened new lands, repealed the
Missouri Compromise of 1820, and virtually nullified the Compromise of 1850.
It looked for Popular Sovereignty to determine the status of slavery within
those lands.
Senator Stephen Douglas hoped that by allowing Popular Sovereignty,
relations between the North and South would be eased because the South
could potentially expand slavery into new territories while the North had the
right to abolish slavery in their states.
Abolitionists condemned the law as a concession to the growing power of
slavery.
Discussion paper ‘Ostend Manifesto’ proposes purchase or seizure from Spain
of the island of Cuba (which had slavery).
The manifesto is denounced by the free-soil press as a conspiracy to extend
slavery.
President Pierce had been sympathetic to the Southern cause, and his
embrace of the manifesto’s ideas caused a fracturing of the Democratic party
into pro-slave and abolitionist elements.
1854-1858 “Bloody Kansas” or “Border War”
A series of events involving ‘Free-Staters (abolitionists) and pro-slavery
elements in the Kansas territory and western frontier towns of Missouri state.
Pro-slavery settlers came to Kansas mainly from neighboring Missouri. They
engage in intimidation and voting fraud to sway the vote in favor of slavery.
Free-soilers from the North came in opposition.
Conflict was evitable, and vote fraud evident. In the Kansas territories, only
3000 were eligible to vote. 2,973 votes against slavery, but over 6,000 voted
in support! Congress initially accepts the vote!
1855 The Lecompton Constitution was the 2nd of 4 proposed constitutions
for the state of Kansas.
The document was composed in a climate of tension and
recrimination between pro-slave and abolitionists. It would have
enshrined slavery constitutionally and protected slave owners.
Clear voting fraud was again evident. Rather than allow it to pass,
parties boycotted anything not in their favor, and the authorities
resigned rather than sign something they disagreed with.
Horace Greeley
Abolitionist newspaper editor, who used his newspapers to promote the
Whig and Republican political parties, as well as opposition to slavery
and crusading against political corruption.
He used his newspaper to oppose Slaveocracy, what he considered to
be a conspiracy by slave owners to seize control of the federal
government and block the progress of liberty.
Antebellum: Increasing Sectional Divisions
1787-1860 (A Chronology, page 2 of 2)
Unrest in the Senate, 1856
In response to the atrocities committed by pro-slave activists in Kansas,
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gives a long, fiery anti-slave
speech on the floor of the United States Senate. In the speech he accuses
slave supporter Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina (who’s not
there) of dishonorable conduct. Butler’s nephew Rep. Preston Brooks of
South Carolina, hears of the slander, marches across the Capital and in
retaliation assaults Sumner with his cane, nearly beating him to death
while other Senators watch on. (Rep. Laurence Keitt of South Carolina
held a gun, preventing anyone from helping Sumner, who fell
unconsciousness.)
The North interprets this incident as meaning that compromise is
harder than ever and violence is near the surface.
1856 Presidential Election
The prospects of war are very much front and center!
Republican John Fremont crusades against slavery; the slogan is “free
speech, free press, free soil, free men. Fremont and victory!”
Democrat James Buchanan characterizes Republicans as extremists
and warns of a civil war, speaking of it in terms of inevitability.
Know-Nothing Party candidate Millard Fillmore ignores the issue of
slavery completely, favoring anti-immigration issues instead.
Buchanan (with his southern sympathies) wins.
1857, Hinton Helper publishes ‘The Impending Crisis of the South’
This book was a strong attack on slavery as inefficient and a barrier to
economic advancement of whites.
It condemns the institution of slavery.
He argues slavery ended up hurting the Southern economy overall (by
preventing economic development and industrialization), which
accounts for why the North progressed more quickly than the South,
and claimed Southern whites who were poor or of moderate means
were oppressed by the small (but politically dominant) aristocracy of
wealthy slave owners.
This angers the South, widening the gulf between it and the North.
This affected the protracted debates revolving around electing
Republican John Sherman to the speakership of the House
It sharpened sectional differences between the North and South.
These views, along with Slaveocracy, were embraced by
Republicans Salmon Chase of Ohio and Charles Sumner, both of
whom used these ideas to confront the South.
1857, George Fitzhugh publishes ‘Cannibals All!’
A defense of Southern slavery
It is a sharp criticism of the ‘wage slavery’ found in the North; he
advanced the view that slaves of the South were freer than those
trapped by the oppression of capitalist exploitation in the North.
His idea to rectify social inequity created by capitalism was to
institute a system of universal slavery, based on his belief that
“nineteen out of every twenty individuals have … a natural and
inalienable right to be slaves.”
By 1857, Congress had never directly addressed the question as to
whether slaves were free once they set foot on Northern soil (although
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 would suggest not)
1857 Dred Scott v.Sandford
A Supreme Court case addressing the legal status of a slave, Dred
Scott. The question at hand was: if a slave is brought to and resides
in free territory, with the consent to his owner, and then returns to
slave territory, is that slave still a slave?
The Court ruled against Dred Scott, finding that as a person of
African ancestry is had no legal standing to sue in American
courts (ie, he was not a citizen). Moreover, it expressly stated that
Scott’s temporary residence outside Missouri did not affect his
emancipation under the Missouri Compromise, since reaching that
result would deprive Scott’s owner of property.
Welcomed by the South, and met with perplexity by the North.
This Court decision may have been a contributing factor to the
outbreak of The Panic of 1857 (an economic depression)
Why? The Supreme Court’s decision threatened to open up
all western territories to slavery, prompting the bonds of east-
west running railroads to plummet in value, which in turn
helped motivate a run on the major New York banks.
1858 Abraham Lincoln – Stephen Douglas Debates (Senate election)
Lincoln accused Douglas of encouraging fear of ethnic intermixing;
Douglas accuses Lincoln of being an abolitionist.
In his ‘House Divided’ speech, Lincoln argued that Douglas was
part of a conspiracy to nationalize slavery, suggesting that ending
the Missouri Compromise ban on slavery in Kansas and Nebraska
was the first step in this direction, and that the Dred Scott decision
was another step in moving slavery into Northern territories.
John Brown, 1859
Advocated for and led an insurrection as a means to end all slavery.
In response to the ends of Bloody Kansas, he led the
Pottawatomie Massacre in 1856 in which he murdered five pro-
slavery settlers in Kansas.
In 1859 he led the unsuccessful raid at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
His intention was to start a liberation movement among slaves.
On trial for treason following his arrest, he gave an eloquent
anti-slavery speech which captivated the North, whose
embrace of his words horrified the South.
1859, Wyandotte Constitution was drafted.
This presented the prevailing abolitionist view concerning Kansas
and statehood. Fatigue and short tempers on the issue take hold.
Knights of the Golden Circle
A secret society founded to promote the interests of the South
1860, 2 failed attempts to invaded Mexico to expand slave territory
It sought to prepare the way for annexation of territories from
Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean to be included as
slave states. Height of popularity reached in 1860
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Name: _______________________________
Period: ______ Date: __________________
Antebellum brainstorm study questions
Please answer these on a separate piece of paper, and attach this as the cover sheet to what you turn in.
1. To what does the term “antebellum” refer?
2. Was slavery allowed in the Northwest Territory? Yes No
3. In what year did it become illegal to import slaves into the United States?
4. Regarding the previous question, why?
5. What established the 36-30 line?
6. What was the significance/importance of the 36-30 line?
7. What events in South Carolina caused the nullification crisis of 1828?
8. What is the significance of William Lloyd Garrison?
9. What was the impact of Nat Turner’s Rebellion?
10. What encouraged the slave market to start growing again?
11. Under what reasoning did the Southern defenders of slavery view it as a
“positive good?’ That is, what events let them to view it as such?
12. To what does the Pinckney Resolution refer?
13. Why is Elijah Lovejoy viewed as a martyr by the abolitionist movement?
14. What was the Amistad incident?
15. What is Popular Sovereignty?
16. Who supported Popular Sovereignty?
17. How did the north and south view Frederick Douglass’s autobiography?
18. What did DeBow’s Review warn against?
19. What was the intent of the Wilmot Proviso
20. What were Zachary Taylor’s views on slavery? Why did he keep it secret in
the election?
21. Under what circumstances were the southerners outnumbered in California?
22. What was the Fugitive Slave Law?
23. What were the five laws which took affect under the Compromise of 1850?
24. How did the south view the Georgia Platform?
25. What was the response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
26. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act do?
27. Was President Pierce supportive of the north or south?
28. What did Horace Greenley do to advance the abolitionist cause?
29. To what does the term Slaveocracy refer?
30. What did the Know-Nothing Party candidate Millard Fillmore say about
slavery in the 1856 presidential election?
31. What was the argument presented by Hinton Helper? (Please be detailed)
32. What ideas did George Fitzhugh put forth to defend slavery?
33. Why did the Supreme Court rule against Dred Scott?
34. In what way did the Dred Scott decision contribute to the economic
depression of 1857?
35. Who was John Brown?
36. What was Knights of the Golden Circle?
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Name: ________________________
Period: _____ Date: ____________
Pro-Slavery perspectives
Using the following statements, please
1. Offer a summary which clearly and concisely explains the main points which the statement is trying to communicate about the speaker’s position on the topic of
slavery.
2. Grammar, spelling and idea content matter
Informational quote from a text regarding John Calhoun
Calhoun believes that under slavery, the black race has attained a condition of
unprecedented civilization and moral, physical, and intellectual improvement, a state
vastly superior to its “initially low, degraded, savage conditions.” Furthermore, Calhoun
claims that “there has never yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one
portion of the community did not live on the labor of the other,” and in the South the
conditions of the laborer were allegedly superior to those of the tenants of European
poorhouses or the factory workers in the North; the slave is always in the midst of his
family and taken care of by his master, whereas the poor outside the South have no such
recourse. The Southern slave system, according to Calhoun, does not exhibit the
destabilizing conflicts between capital and labor observed in the North.
Calhoun furthermore views slavery as protected by the Constitution; in delegating a
portion of their rights to be exercised by the federal government, the states retained the
exclusive right over their own domestic institutions—including slavery. Therefore, any
intermeddling of one or more states with the domestic institutions of the other states under
any pretext whatsoever is subversive of the Constitution. Any attack on slavery for
Calhoun amounts to an attack on the states’ mutual constitutional pledge to protect and
defend each other.
Primary source quote by John Calhoun, 1837
"I take higher ground. I hold that in the present state of civilization, where two races of
different origin, and distinguished by color, and other physical differences, as well as
intellectual, are brought together, the relation now existing in the slaveholding States
between the two, is, instead of an evil, a good — a positive good...
I may say with truth, that in few countries so much is left to the share of the laborer, and
so little exacted from him, or where there is more kind attention paid to him in sickness or
infirmities of age.
Compare his condition with the tenants of the poor houses in the more civilized portions
of Europe — look at the sick, and the old and infirm slave, on one hand, in the midst of his
family and friends, under the kind superintending care of his master and mistress, and
compare it with the forlorn and wretched condition of the pauper in the poorhouse...
I hold then, that there never has yet existed a wealthy and civilized society in which one
portion of the community did not, in point of fact, live on the labor of the other.”
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Name: ________________________
Period: _____ Date: ____________
Anti-Slavery perspectives
Using the following statements, please
1. Offer a summary which clearly and concisely explains the main points which the statement is trying to communicate about the speaker’s position on the topic of
slavery.
2. Grammar, spelling and idea content matter
Informational quote from a text
He (Garrison) became associated with the American Colonization Society, which believed free
blacks should emigrate to a territory on the west coast of Africa. At first glance the society seemed
to promote the freedom and happiness of blacks. However, it turned out that most members had no
wish to free slaves; their goal was only to reduce the numbers of free blacks in the country and
thus help preserve the institution of slavery. By 1830, he left the Society.
In 1831, he published the first issue of his own anti-slavery newspaper, the Liberator. In speaking
engagements and through the Liberator and other publications, Garrison advocated the immediate
emancipation of all slaves. This was an unpopular view during the 1830s, even with northerners
who were against slavery. What would become of all the freed slaves? Certainly they could not
assimilate into American society, they thought. Garrison believed that they could assimilate. He
believed that, in time, all blacks would be equal in every way to the country's white citizens. They,
too, were Americans and entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Garrison soon gained a reputation for being the most radical of abolitionists. Still, his approach to
emancipation stressed nonviolence and passive resistance, and he did attract a following.
Primary source quote by William Lloyd Garrison, 1833
But those, for whose emancipation we are striving, — constituting at the present time at least one-
sixth part of our countrymen, — are recognized by the laws, and treated by their fellow beings, as
marketable commodities — as goods and chattels — as brute beasts; — are plundered daily of the
fruits of their toil without redress; — really enjoy no constitutional nor legal protection from
licentious and murderous outrages upon their persons; — are ruthlessly torn asunder-the tender
babe from the arms of its frantic mother — the heart-broken wife from her weeping husband — at
the caprice or pleasure of irresponsible tyrants; — and, for the crime of having a dark complexion,
suffer the pangs of hunger, the infliction of stripes, and the ignominy of brutal servitude. They are
kept in heathenish darkness by laws expressly enacted to make their instruction a criminal offence.
That no man has a right to enslave or imbrute his brother — to hold or acknowledge him, for one
moment, as a piece of merchandise — to keep back his hire by fraud — or to brutalize his mind by
denying him the means of intellectual, social and moral improvement.
The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it, is to usurp the prerogative of Jehovah. Every
man has a right to his own body—to the products of his own labor—to the protection of law—and
to the common advantages of society. It is piracy to buy or steal a native African, and subject him
to servitude. Surely the sin is as great to enslave an American as an African.
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COMPROMISE OF 1820
Situation before the compromise:
Balance of free and slave states in Congress
Northerners do not want to admit slave state in the west
Missouri desperate to become slave state (sizable land)
James Tallmadge proposal: free all slaves when they turn 25; south rejects idea
What the compromise did:
Missouri = slave state
Maine = free state
No new slave states above 36-30 parallel
**Seemed to restrict the future spread to Slavery
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COMPROMISE OF 1850 (Henry Clay’s Compromise)
Situation before the compromise:
Gold in California in 1848; population increase
Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833; south has to be concerned with federal military involvement
California constitution proposes no slavery
Push for abolitionist DC angers slavery holders, who wants a slave state
Fugitive Slave Act not effective; underground railroad
Slavery on the border states was unsustainable (too close to free states)
Balance of free and slave states in Congress
Southerners accuse Northerners of interfering with their property rights
What the compromise did:
California = free state
Separate Utah and New Mexico
Utah and New Mexico = popular sovereignty
Washington DC = prohibit slavery (slave owners get reparations)
Adopt a stricter Fugitive Slave Law (*intended to assert state rights, to overcome Nullification loss)
Popular sovereignty echoes Jacksonian democracy
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KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854)
Situation before the compromise:
Much farm land was available, but not organized for settlement
Longstanding discussion as Transcontinental Railroad, and how to get land for it
Voting in Congress was regionally aligned (south voted to block northern interests)
Some argued that Mexico-era anti-slave laws in acquired US territories should stand; south disagrees.
What the compromise did:
Repealed Compromise of 1820
Created territories of Kansas and Nebraska
Codified popular sovereignty as law of the land
Lead to ‘Bloody Kansas’ (basically a civil war within Kansas)
In Congress, northern Whigs and southern Whigs fracture, destroying the party
Northern Whigs join Republicans, southern Whigs move toward Democrats
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Compromise of 1820
1. What year was Maine admitted as a
free state?
2. What year was Missouri admitted as a
slave state?
3. Was the unorganized Territory free or
slave?
4. Under the Compromise of 1820, what
was the importance of the 36-30
Parallel Line?
5. According to the map, name the
territories that are closed to slavery in
the future.
6. What are the two territories that are
open to slavery?
7. Which two countries occupied the
Oregon Territory (Oregon Country)?
8. There is a “Spanish-United States
treaty line”. Does this suggest a \
friendly agreement between the two
countries, or something else?
9. In 1820, what are the two most
northern slave states?
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Compromise of 1850 Map dated before the Compromise . . . Map dated after the Compromise . . .
The following questions all relate to how the Compromise of 1850 affected the map of the United States
1. What happened to the size and shape of Texas?
2. Which country controlled Alaska?
3. At the top point of Texas, there is an area labeled “Neutral Strip”. Looks closely at the map. What is this really?
4. Hawaii is called “Kingdom of Hawaii”. What does this suggest about who controlled the islands?
5. Look at the Mexican Cession territory and see what happened in that land as a result of the Compromise. What does this suggest about the intent of
the US?
6. Why might the United States have been rushing to get California admitted as a state?
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Slavery, chart a
1. Which three colonies were the first to make
slavery legal?
2. In which three colonies did the number of
people of African heritage increase the
most?
3. In what colony is Boston located?
4. What are the seven cities which were major
centers of the slave population?
5. What about their locations gives them
(major slave population cities) something in
common which might explain why they
have large slave populations?
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Slavery, chart b
1. How many slaves
were in Oregon?
2. What percentage of
the overall
population of
Mississippi were
slaves?
3. What percentage of
the overall
population of
South Carolina
were slaves?
4. Which state had the
most slaveholders?
5. Which state had the
largest percentage
of slave owning
families, and what
was the percent?
6. How many states
had no slaves?
7. In the entire United
States, what
percentage of its
population were
slaves in 1860?
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Election of 1860
Just how divided was the country on the eve of the Civil War?
Lincoln emerged as the compromise Republican (a relatively new party back then) candidate after no one could agree from among the original three favored
candidates, while the Democratic party split in half and fielded two opposing candidates, one pro-slavery (Breckinridge) and one anti-slavery (Douglas); the
middle states created their own anti-war pro-slave party.
While Lincoln won the electoral college overwhelmingly (180 to his three opponents results of 72, 39 and 12), the more detailed map of votes by county
votes illuminates a less unifying reality…red hues (Lincoln), blue (Douglas), green (Breckinridge) and orange (Bell).
Lincoln (anti-Slavery) won 39.8% of the vote, and carried 18 states
Breckinridge (pro-slavery) won 18.1% of the vote, and carried 11 states
Bell (pro-slavery) won 12.6% of the popular vote, and carried 3 states
Douglas (anti-slavery) won 29.5% of the vote, and 1 state.
Bell lost Maryland to Lincoln by a mere 722 votes. Douglas won electoral votes in both free and
slave states, and he campaigned on behalf of Lincoln as he was confronting his own mortality
(cancer).
Voter turnout was 81.2%, the second highest in American history